History Anime / TheMagnificentKotobuki

''Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai'' (lit: ''The Kotobuki Squadron in Wilderness''), localized as ''The Magnificent Kotobuki'', is an original anime based on an upcoming mobile game ''The Kotobuki Squadron in Wilderness: Take Off Girls in the Sky'', directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and animated by GEMBA and Creator/WaoWorld, premiered on January 13, 2019. The game was launched on February 13, 2019 and focuses on other flight squadrons besides the Kotobuki as they live their life in the chaotic and lawless Ijitsu.

** The [[spoiler:[F-86D=] Sabre that shows up in Episode 12 doesn't try to turn with the Kotobuki squadron and instead makes hit-and-run diving attacks with its Mighty Mouse rockets on them. This is a common tactic of jet pilots if they're up against slower but more maneuverable aircraft, as it allows them to use their speed to their advantage without overshooting their target. As a side note, the F-86D Sabre was used by the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force from 1958-1961.]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: With the exception of the Elite Association [[spoiler: until their schism.]] Sky pirates act as little more than generic bad guys that anyone can shoot down with no tears being shed. [[spoiler:Given that many of the 'sky pirates' attacks are instigated by Isao, including the aforementioned schism in the Elite Force, this view is likely enforced by him to discredit Julia's bill to pardon the pirates and turning them into productive workforce]]. However, in other story campaigns of the mobile game, especially the Akatsuki and the Gekitetsu, people like pirates, mafia, and thieves are more varied when it comes to their motivation for doing crimes.

* CommonPlaceRare: Fish are rare and valuable in this world. The crew gets a contract to use their airship to transport a single fish; the main characters had never seen one before, and the bartender mentions that he "splurged" to buy a fish to serve at his wedding.

* EvolvingCredits: The ending song has a part where Kylie's Hayabusa flies with the planes that appear in the episode. In Episode 8, the one that flies with her is Captain Dodo and being a bird, he gets tired and almost falls to the off-screen.

** In Old Sabu's bookshelf, there were children books like ''Alice in the Wonderland'' or Chinese and French Philosophy. However, at the end of the shelf there's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel) Les infortunes de la vertu]]'' by de Sade. You know, the guy from whom the word "sadist" came from.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Johnny, the bartender, acts cowardly, but is a crack shot and takes down over a dozen boarders with just pistols and shotguns, while they had sub-machine guns.

* EverybodyLives: With the exception of [[spoiler:Isao]], every major character survives. That includes Gaudreau, who survived the explosion of his zeppelin.

** When the Elite Force tries to scam Rahama with counterfeit painting for a rare plane, [[BavarianFireDrill the CEO fast-talks the mayor into giving in]] before the vice-mayor calls him out. When the town finally refuses to buy the painting, the Elite Force proceeds to torch the town down. In their fight, the CEO jumps down into the mayor's Raiden, yanks the mayor out, and in his salesmen shtick act, 'trades' the plane for the painting. Later in the series, the head of the Production Department pulls the same move on the HR department head.

* SymbolicBlood: When Allen's plane was attacked by unknown assailants, the front of his plane got splattered by leaking fuel. Seeing that he ended up disabled after the attack, it might as well his own blood that covered the front cockpit.

* VillainousBreakdown: Watching the hole be destroyed causes [[spoiler:Isao]] to scream and whine like a child whose toys are being taken, all while he flies into the exploding hole.

** The [[spoiler:F-86 Sabre that shows up in Episode 12 doesn't try to turn with the Kotobuki squadron and instead makes hit-and-run diving attacks on them. This is a common tactic of jet pilots if they're up against slower but more maneuverable aircraft, as it allows them to use their speed to their advantage without overshooting their target. As a side note, the model used in the show is the F-86D Dog Sabre, which was used by the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force from 1958-1961.]]

** Leona sometimes gets written as "Reona". Torihei's card also has his name written as Trihei.

** Nobody makes note that their moon has a raccoon tied upside-down pattern. The audience just found out that fact when the show just happens to pan out to it.

** The [[spoiler:F-86 Sabre that shows up in Episode 12 doesn't try to turn with the Kotobuki squadron and instead makes hit-and-run diving attacks on them. This is a common tactic of jet pilots if they're up against slower but more maneuverable aircraft, as it allows them to use their speed to their advantage without overshooting their target.]]

* IntellectualAnimal: Captain dodo seems to be smarter than the average bird, delivering messages and acting cool under pressure.

* TakingYouWithMe: In episode 11 just as Chika's plane is falling, she manages to shot down one last enemy fighter before parachuting to safety.

** When the Elite Force tries to scam Rahama with counterfeit painting for a rare plane, [[BavarianFireDrill the CEO fast-talks the mayor into giving in]] before the vice-mayor calls him out. When the town finally refuses to buy the painting, the Elite Force proceeds to torch the town down. In their fight, the CEO jumps down into the mayor's Raiden, yanks the mayor out, and in his salesmen shtick act, 'trades' the plane for the painting.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In episode 10, one of the bombers appears to reach its target and begins dropping its explosives, but moments later [[spoiler:it crashes into the "hole" in the sky--the MacGuffin the bombers were attempting to take control of. It catches the craft and its bombs in midair, and a few seconds later the bombs detonate, destroying the bomber that dropped them and destabilizing the portal.]]

* {{Precursors}}: The people of Yufang who one day, long ago, just came from a hole in the sky, built facilities and made planes, only to one day disappeared back into the hole except for one man. The aeronautical technology they left behind galvanized Ijitsu to use air-based transportation and military that shapes the majority of their culture, while at the same time clearly still can't compare to the Yufang's.

* RebelliousSpirit: In Ijitsu, pilots are always free-spirited. Unbounded by rules, they fly the way they want and go wherever they want. Those who quit being a pilot are painted as an analogue to adults who despaired and settled down with bare minimum because they can't chase after their dreams. So when Isao imposes regulations on pilots, many are discontent with licences and struggling with the sudden change. One is even mentioned to outright quit flying because of the red tapes, of which the conversation is more in line of someone just had a DeathByDespair.

** The end of episode 1 shows that Emma lives alone in a large mansion, Kate has a sick brother, and Leona grew up in an orphanage without giving a verbal exposition.

** A lot of Japanese World War II aircraft galore. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Ki-43 The Hayabusa]] might get the lion's share of screen time, but the others like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_J2M the Raiden]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Ki-61 the Hien]] are also equally gushed. The anime's official website also give details on the planes' specifications.

** Julia's almost identical pair of personal bodyguards seem to share physical resemblance with the retired wrestlers Dory and Terry Funk, which means Chika's remark about doing things and eating together make you look alike has merit - after all, they're brothers. Of course they're doing things and eating together.

* HeroicSacrifice:

** Yufang is name-dropped as a group of people who came to Ijitsu 80 years ago and Kate identifies the allied plane as Yufang Ki-44 instead of its real-life name Nakajima Ki-44. Yufang turns out to be the precursor of Ijitsu's aviation culture [[spoiler:and actually are the Japanese people that came to another world. This is confirmed in episode 11, where its stated outright that the Yufang are the Imperial Jpanese Army]].

** Johnny's GunKata is pretty much something out of ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'', especially the part when he flip backward to shoot at enemies on his sides.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: While Leon and Zara have this dynamic, Kylie and Chika can be considered tomboys to Emma and Kate's more feminine dispositions.

* WithUsOrAgainstUs: This is the motto of [[spoiler:Isao's Brotherhood of Freedom]], who force the leaders of each city to submit to them voluntarily, or have their cities bombed into the ground.

* BigBadassBattleSequence: The Battle in episode 11 between [[spoiler:Isao's Brotherhood of Freedom]] and those who refuse to bow down to him, among them the Kotobuki squadron.

* BigDamnHeroes: In episode 11, just as Rahama's mayor is about to be shot down, [[spoiler:the Elite forces join the fray and take down the fighters]].

* GogglesDoNothing: Zigzagged. While the six girls of Kotobuki Squadron have aviator's goggles, only Leona and Chika actually wear them while piloting. All of their planes have closed cockpits, making goggles redundant, unless the glass gets hit by enemy bullets. Kylie is usually keep her goggles on her aviator hat, but properly using them when she pilots an Akatombo, likely because it's an open cockpit plane.

** Squadrons tend to make their personal marks' propellers on the number of their main planes' propellers. The Kotobuki has two because they ride Hayabusa, while the Elite Force has three because their CEO rides Suisei. Ikesuka has six, [[spoiler:and Isao ends up flying to battle in Shinden]].

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Johnny, the bartender, acts cowardly, but is a crack shot and takes down over a dozen boarders with just pistols and shotgun, while they had machine guns.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: With the exception of the Elite Association [[spoiler: until their schism.]] Sky pirates act as little more than generic bad guys that anyone can shoot down with no tears being shed.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: The conflict between Julia and Isao about their pirate policy is basically this. Julia wants to give amnesty to the pirate because she understands that most pirates are [[DrivenToVillainy simple miners whose livelihood had run out]] and thus deserve a chance to turn their way around as productive members of society, all while also not being a blind idealist who dismissed their threat because she's still hiring bodyguard against them. On the other hand, Isao realizes that they live in a world where oceans aren't even a thing, and thus have very limited resources to go around in the first place. Thus, he wishes to make betterment for the law-abiding citizens instead of criminals no one can trust for the sake of maintaining a working society. The only reason they're not making compromise seems from the fact that their enmity with each other is mostly personal.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: A variation. When Kylie's plane and [[spoiler:her elusive rival the purple-snake fighter]] both run out of gas simultaneously, they end up gliding down to land right next to each other. After yelling at each other for a few minutes, they become friends over [[spoiler:shared memories of Old Man Sabu]].

* ConspicuousCG: The CelShading variant for the girls, their dodo, Johnny, Ririko, Madame Lulu and Saneatsu, and more realistic shading for the aircraft.

* ArtShift: Both Saneatsu and Madame Lulu alternate between 2D and 3D animation regularly.

* BoobsOfSteel: Zara's the second-most stacked character in the show (second only to Lulu), and is very capable in hand-to-hand combat.

** One of the acrobatic moves Kylie does is basically ''braking her plane mid-air'', letting her Hayabusa get dragged down by gravity for a moment so she can get behind an opponent, and regaining her speed to chase after said opponent. Naomi is seen pulling the same move in her Zero later in the series. [[spoiler:This makes sense considering both of Kylie and Naomi learned how to fly under Old Sabu's tutelage.]]

** One of the acrobatic moves Kylie does is basically ''braking her plane mid-air'', letting her Hayabusa get dragged down by gravity for a moment so she can get behind an opponent, and regaining her speed to chase after said opponent.

* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Isao]] is revealed to be this, keeping the same friendly and energetic attitude he always shows even after his intentions are revealed.

* WeirdMoon: Apperently, the moon of the world Ijitsu is pretty normal, except for [[https://i.imgur.com/3xiHRQF.png the tied upside-down plush raccoon dog over a boiling pot]] crafted into the surface, large enough to be seen with naked eyes.